As Mad-Cow Testing Increases,
Industry Fears Export Impact

By

Bill Tomson OsterDowJones Commodity News

Updated June 14, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- The possibility that a massive new U.S. cattle-testing effort may produce more discoveries of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, has the U.S. beef sector concerned that months of negotiations to reopen export markets may be set back.

Producers and exporters are counting on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent hasty reactions abroad as more cases of the disease seem likelier since laboratories...